FrontLine Defenders 2013 Annual Report

In Bahrain, more than a year after the publication of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) report, the authorities have failed to implement many of its recommendations, continued to suppress protests and arrest human rights defenders. In September, a court upheld the life sentence against Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, founder of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights and former Front Line Defenders staff member, on fabricated charges of organising and managing a terrorist organisation and attempt to overthrow the government by force and in liaison with a terrorist organisation working for a foreign country. Almost all the most vocal Bahraini HRDs were in detention at year’s end.